Friday, May 04, 2007

Bush Wants Phone Firms Immune to Privacy Suits

The Washington Post reports, “The Bush administration is urging Congress to pass a law that would halt dozens of lawsuits charging phone companies with invading ordinary citizens' privacy through a post-Sept. 11 warrantless surveillance program.” According to the report, “The measure is part of a legislative package drafted by the Justice Department to relax provisions in the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that restrict the administration's ability to intercept electronic communications in the United States.”

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Administration Pulls Back on Surveillance Agreement

The New York Times reports, “Senior Bush administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that they could not pledge that the administration would continue to seek warrants from a secret court for a domestic wiretapping program, as it agreed to do in January.” “Rather,” the report explains, “they argued that the president had the constitutional authority to decide for himself whether to conduct surveillance without warrants.”

Sound Off
Court Watch
John W. Whitehead's Commentary
First Liberties
OldSpeak

About This Page
The horrible acts of September 11th paved the way for anti-terrorism legislation that grants the federal government sweeping new powers to investigate and detain anyone deemed a threat to national security. The new laws, most notably the USA Patriot Act, signify a turning point for our nation in the value we place on our freedoms. Operation Eroding Freedom is an effort to monitor that turning point’s present and potential threat to our civil liberties.

Resources
Read the joint "friend of the court" brief filed by attorneys with The Rutherford Institute and People for the American Way in Padilla v. Hanft.

JWW: How Liberty Dies: The Patriot Reauthorization Act

Members of the Constitution Project’s bipartisan blue-ribbon Liberty and Security Initiative have released a letter calling on Congress to examine the United States’ practice of transferring terrorist suspects into the custody of other nations and the methods for ensuring that the people transferred will be treated humanely. The committee also released a statement calling on the Bush administration and Congress to create a bipartisan commission, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to investigate the issue of abuse of terrorist suspects at detention facilities. John Whitehead's remarks concerning The Constitution Project’s recommendation are available here.

The Department of Homeland Security is proposing to exempt a vast database from legal requirements that protect privacy and promote government accountability. The agency's plan leaves individuals without the ability to correct inaccurate information and without protection against possible abuse of the database. In comments filed with the agency, more than forty organizations, including The Rutherford Institute, have opposed the plan.

The Patriot Act: Opposing Viewpoints

Letter to Chairman Roberts and Vice Chairman Rockefeller of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence sent April 18, 2005 [PDF]

First Liberties: Volume 30—Spring 2005

You Are Being Watched, and There Is No Place to Hide: An interview with Robert O'Harrow, Jr.

The Rutherford Institute supports the “Freedom to Read Protection Act of 2005,” which was reintroduced by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and more than 100 co-sponsors. The legislation, formerly introduced as H.R. 1157 in the 108th Congress, would exempt libraries and booksellers from provisions of the USA Patriot Act that allow the federal government to access library or bookstore records without having to get a traditional search warrant.

Do you know the Bill of Rights? Do you know your freedoms? The Rutherford Institute's mini-Bill of Rights booklet provides a primer on how the Bill of Rights is only as effective as the people make it.

Rutherford Institute Response to Attorney General John Ashcroft’s “Patriot Act Tour” and Website

Read Taking Liberties in the War on Terror: The Justice Department's “Patriot Act II”

Read an excerpt from TRI's Constitutional Analysis of USA PATRIOT Act of 2001

Appendix A—Bush Emergency Proclamation

Appendix B—USA PATRIOT Act of 2001

Appendix C—Prison Monitoring

Appendix D—Military Tribunals

Homeland Security Act of 2002

Commentary by John W. Whitehead concerning the USA Patriot and the war on terror since 9/11

You'll need the free Adobe Acrobat™ Reader to view PDF files.

Take Action Now!
Make your city or town a Civil Liberties Safe Zone! Visit The Bill Of Rights Defense Committee website and help support local efforts to restore civil liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution, which have been threatened by the USA Patriot Act and Executive Orders.

People who believe their civil rights or civil liberties have been violated by a Justice Department employee can e-mail the complaint to the Justice Department's Office of Inspector General or fax the complaint to the OIG: 202-616-9898. The Inspector General's office is located at:

U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20530

People who believe that their civil rights or civil liberties have been violated by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel, or that racial or ethnic profiling has occured, may file a complaint with the DHS Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.

Archive

May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007